History

HISTORY

“My name is Marina and I have a neurological disorder that makes it difficult for me to find employment despite holding a degree in English Literature. My disorder affects the left side of my body and has given me some minor learning disorders which make me do many things at a slower than average pace. I also need a lot of rest. Collecting refundable cans and bottles is flexible work that allows me to respect my brain and body’s limits; I often use a shopping cart as a walker or cane replacement.”

2004

Just after she was hired as a project manager for eco-quartier Peter-McGill, Marica receives several calls from businesses wanting to recycle their glass, metal and plastic. A few months after, she met Marina who picked refundable containers in a public garbage receptacle on the corner of Ste-Catherine West and St. Mathieu streets. She proposes to Marina the creation of a collection service to businesses wanting to recycle glass, metal and plastic refundable containers. They named the project: Projet Consigne

>>PROJET CONSIGNE: Similar to what is done in Vancouver and Brazil, but on a smaller scale, Projet Consigne was created in 2004 by Marina (valoriste) and Marica (project manager) eco-quartier Peter-McGill [2]. The project offers free collection points for refundable containers within businesses of downtown Montreal. Established in 2005, without advertising nor grant, the pilot project was developed with the help of a person having difficulty entering the labor market, in order to test the possibility of implementing a larger collection system to Downtown Montreal. [3] After 6 years there are nearly 110,000 containers were recovered by foot by Marina!>>

13479 containers were collected; more than twice as much as the previous year!

2008:

First meeting between Ken Lyotier of United We Can and Marica. Donation of $ 500.00 in clothes by Mountain Equipment Coop to Marina (MEC)

2010:

The provincial government decides to consider the abolition of the beverage container deposit system in the action plan of the Québec’s Policy plan for waste management (see Strategy 8) http://www.mddep.gouv.qc.ca /matieres/pgmr/plan-action.pdf